A motherless girl is about to go from being an escaped slave, to a gang leader, to a concubine, to the empress of Imperial China. And under her reign, her enemies will tremble before her.

I love this drama. It’s a masterpiece, and one of a few dramas I can truly say this about. From the breathtaking cinematography to the amazing script, everything about this incredible drama was perfectly done to make those 51 episodes run by way too quickly.

Ji Chang Wook’s character was the reason why I fell in love with this drama. This was what I knew, it’s what I believed, but as I sat down to write this review, I realised that it wasn’t the emperor, but rather the empress that made me fall in love with this drama, and so, I’ll focus on her for my review. Starting with her bravery.

Life threw lemons at this woman, and she not only made lemonade, she sowed the seeds and grew a whole damn lemon farm. As a little girl, when Seung-Nyang lost her mother while escaping from being offered as concubines, she didn’t give up. She fought for her right to remain alive in a country that didn’t seems to care much for her right to stay alive. And she did, because in the process, she became the leader of a surviving gang, and it was through it, that her destiny truly begun.

Empress Ki did not allow her pain and suffering define her. Throughout this drama, Ki went through a lot. From losing her mother, thinking she lost her child, losing her country, the love of her life, then losing her child just when she found him, and losing her second love. Seung-Nyang could have been a character that at some point would have just given up, but she didn’t, she fought through all these and more, and came out on top. I love how she handled her pain, as if to scream: no you don’t define me, no, I won’t let you win today.

I love how strong she was in every scene whenever she was faced with moments that will make everyone break down and cry or give up. One of these moment was when she found out about her dear son, but decided anyway to do whatever she could to get him to get away from the life she was forced to live. I was very angry at those scenes, after what both her and the crown prince decided to do after they found out that their son was alive. But, I understood her, it was the only way she could save him, and seeing her cover her pain to do the right thing, made me love her. Of course, the outcome of her decision, is another discussion for other time.

She made her enemies fear and remember her name: She never gave in to the court bullying her, she played her cards right, and showed them, through shear tactics that she’s a force to regaining with, and under her reign, they all learned to fear and respect her.

Romance:
When the relationship between the crowned prince and Seung-Nyang begun, I was super against it, because I wanted her to be with the scared little emperor who had no one in his corner. But I was grateful for it because it made the drama a lot more intense and which, to be honest, made it more interesting. Yes, I hated the triangle, but it was very entertaining and added to the plot. That being said, when it comes down to it:

The Emperor didn't win Empress Ki's heart, he earned it! As for Seung-Nyang, she didn’t win the king’s heart, she conquered it, and with it, his country. It wasn’t a moment, it wasn’t a favour, it wasn’t even in the way she saved him, it was a thousand moments that added up to one, to make Empress Ki return our dear emperor’s love. Poor guy. Yes, my favourite part of the romantic plot was how the emperor had to earned Ki’s love. I love how she never gave in, even when he tried everything and loved her with all his heart.

Did the slow burn annoyed me at some point? Very, very, but thinking about it now, I love how she never gave into him because of his position, and fought until her heart was ready to accept him, and she herself knew he finally deserved her love. This in itself made their love story one of the most romantic plot I'd seen in one of these dramas. Annoying as eff, but realistic and romantic nonetheless.

Other Characters.
Empress Ki is only but one of the characters I loved in this drama. Tal Tal was the next one and both of them added so much to this drama but as I said, I thought I'd focus on this brave woman instead, as it was because of her that this drama has now become one of my all time favourites, which I'll definitely be rewatching.

The side characters all played their parts well, and made sacrifices that left me broken, and respecting their characters more. The bad guys annoyed the heck out of me, as they should. Jesus I was this close to throwing my shoe at their friend turned traitor. Yeah, that guy. Getting stoned to death was merciful. However, I got where he was coming from, and him having depth as a character was one of the reason why this drama had some of the best character development out there.

Now Ta Hwan:
There is nothing wrong with being hopelessly in-love, but it’s a crime to be a desperate dumbass in love. Yes, Ji Chang Wook is a blessing sent from the heavens, and everything he does is GREAT by default. He’s so great if I were him, I’ll wake up every morning like: I'm so perfect it hurts.

Like most of you, I love him! I’ve been an obsessed and loyal stalker since forever. Therefore, I’ve made a vow, to never criticise anything he does. Which is why, I’ll never admit that, I fell asleep, like 10mins into into Healer, and I will die denying this truth before I tell anyone that I gave that Melting My Stuff? drama half episode and gave up, cuz, Ji Chang can do no wrong. Well, even if he does, I won’t talk about it. Just like I won’t talk about that ridiculous wig they put on Lee Min Ho in Boys Over Flowers. Yes, I will never criticize anything he does, but I’m a nitpicking SOB, and if I had to sit through 51 episodes of Empress Ki with the character he played constantly being a punchable son of a beach, you can bet your arse I’ll rant about it.

Ta Hwan as an emperor was hopelessly, useless. He was the epitome of collateral damage. Not only was he a dumbass, he was also a liability to everyone around him, and it bugged me to no end how utterly weak he was as an ruler! He was constantly being saved or being scared. Sometimes he was both at the same time, which was unfortunate.

I waited so many times for him to get off this royal arse and do something for himself... and I’m still waiting. There were moments where I thought his hopelessness was an act, but boy was I wrong! What made me what to slap him was how he was happy being emperor only by name. Ki offered to teach and help him take back his nation, and he whines about how vengeance was a big no-no and he wanted to run away with her to la la land.
Me:
“Dude, surely you wanna... like, hmm... I don’t know, take revenge on the people who:
• Forbid you from learning.
• Exiled you to another country.
• Tried to kill you like a gazillion time.
• Forced you to marry his evil daughter.
• Humiliated you in front of your servants.
• Made you a puppet, and stole your crown
• Oh, and killed your father.?”
Ta Hwan:
“Nope. I just wanna run away with Seung Nyang and chase rainbows and ride unicorns.“
Me: *Grabs my rubber chicken*

As a character, all he had going for him was that he loved Ki. Other than that, he was just there for people to plan their evil plans around. He never stood up for himself, he was useless, a drunk and a sad excuse for a ruler. While everyone was busy trying to keep him alive, he was busy being a jealous lovesick fool.

Yes, I felt for him. He’s my favourite character in Empress Ki, second only to Tal Tal. Because of the emperor, I hated Wang Yoo for no effing reason, but even so, I have to admit that he was so weak and useless as a character I wanted to slap him 99.9% of the time. The only time I didn’t want to slap him was when he up and died and made me cry buckets like: God, I want a donut. He changed a little towards the ending, but never really lived up to his potential, which was sad for an emperor who held two nations in the palm of his hand.

Anyway, I won't even mention that second lead, nope. Overall, I love this drama, of course there were things I wasn’t so keen on, but none of them outweighed my love for it. And at the end of the day, when all’s said and done, it's one of the best k-dramas out there, and I highly recommend it to everyone and their mama.